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'Homeland is racist': artists sneak subversive graffiti on to TV show

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H

Hoo-doo

Banned
mellz said:
CRWsVVUUkAA2bti.jpg:large
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And here we are wondering why Americans still often think people from 'foreign' countries are living in huts built of clay.
 
D

dead souls

Member
Ersatzkopf said:
Why is this casual racism shit even entertaining to some people? Would they honestly rather believe they live in a world were everything outside of the West is some kind of fucked up Disneyworld attraction, or that humans everywhere are just as complicated and interesting as them and the world is multi-faced and amazing?

Why do some people build prisons out of ignorance in their own minds and then seek to feed it with this bullshit? I don't get it...
Click to expand...

You're really overthinking this. People enjoy Homeland because it's well acted and decently written for the most part (la la la the back half of season 2 doesn't exist). Does it get everything right? Not even close, but your comment sounds like you're writing about Triumph of the Will or something instead of a Showtime drama.
 
M

Mechanized

Member
It's not really activism if the primary audience you're trying to reach can't understand what it is.

"Yo we sneaked this shit in" *Nobody noticed*

ACTIVISM
 
C

Crisco

Banned
Yeah, of all the shows to make a statement against, Homeland isn't it. Poorly written at times, sure. Convoluted plot with questionable character motivations, absolutely. But racist? No way. If anything it depicts American/western characters in a far worse light than the arabs.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Member
I don't find homeland racist, but I am offended by how terrible it is. At least they'll always have that excellent first season.
 
S

siddx

Magnificent Eager Mighty Brilliantly Erect Registereduser
Homeland definitely has some serious issues with its portrayal of the middle east, but to be fair they aren't exactly "murica fuck yeah" either. The US comes across pretty poorly quite often on the show.

Really the show in general is just negative and depressing as fuck, it's why I bailed half way through last season, I just couldn't take the atmosphere of "everyone is an asshole and something terrible is constantly around the corner."
 
G

Ganzlinger

Member
They were paid for this? If they don't return the money they are assholes. I don't care about the show but this is unprofessional.
 
U

User 73706

Banned
Frostburn said:
It is a drama TV show, it isn't trying to make a statement or be 100% accurate, it is entertainment and if the artists were really offended by the show they shouldn't have worked on it (not even doing what they were paid to do). Too many overly sensitive people make a big deal out of nothing. Focus on some real issues or shut up. Guess they got what they really wanted though, their 15 minutes in the spotlight.

News flash: Shows always mis-represent actual locations, they do this because of budgets mostly but also to tell a story, they aren't trying to be accurate.
Click to expand...

"it's not racisms, it's just business"
 
Red Mage

Red Mage

Member
Htown said:
"Hey, find me the name of a street in Beirut. Cool, thanks."

ctrl-c, open script, find-replace, ctrl-v
Click to expand...

Pretty much. I still have people who come here to Oklahoma, saying that they're surprised that we have so much electricity, due to the way Hollywood is always representing the state.
 
K

karmaforgotme

Member
siddx said:
Homeland definitely has some serious issues with its portrayal of the middle east, but to be fair they aren't exactly "murica fuck yeah" either. The US comes across pretty poorly quite often on the show.

Really the show in general is just negative and depressing as fuck, it's why I bailed half way through last season, I just couldn't take the atmosphere of "everyone is an asshole and something terrible is constantly around the corner."
Click to expand...

I found season 1 of Homeland fine but overrated. The story-line pacing was way off (Brody went from prisoner to senator in one season). The fact they 'showed their cards' way too early in the series is what led to mediocre seasons of 2 and 3. They painted themselves into a corner. That said given the show's 24 roots there is no surprise they have no idea what a slow burn is.

In Homeland defense I thought the change of focus in season 4 worked, and put Homeland back on a better path. I've been watching the new season (5), and so far it hasn't painted either America or Europe in the best light.

Subjectively Homeland was never been a great show, it's not even the best show on Showtime, but I enjoy it. I do agree with the racism of any show dealing with their subject, and I would like to see more of the other side (which Homeland gives you glimpses at times).


Edit: Funny the same criticisms I have about Homeland pacing wise is one of the major issues I have with House of Cards.
 
K

kmfdmpig

Member
As I mentioned earlier in the show I don't personally feel that Homeland is racist. It does not paint all of the Middle East as terrorists nor does it paint the US in a very positive light. It has more nuance than that.

With that said, I think that Western media, whether news or entertainment does have a problem in how it portrays other parts of the world.

This TED talk does a good job of explaining the dangers of having whole parts of the world reduced to just caricatures of one aspect of them. In most media Africa (as a whole) is shown to be poor and undeveloped, which is not the case.
https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en
 
Z

Zvonimir Boban

Banned
Frostburn said:
It is a drama TV show, it isn't trying to make a statement or be 100% accurate, it is entertainment and if the artists were really offended by the show they shouldn't have worked on it (not even doing what they were paid to do). Too many overly sensitive people make a big deal out of nothing. Focus on some real issues or shut up. Guess they got what they really wanted though, their 15 minutes in the spotlight.

News flash: Shows always mis-represent actual locations, they do this because of budgets mostly but also to tell a story, they aren't trying to be accurate.
Click to expand...

When you have politicians using tactics out of 24 to justify kidnapping innocent people and torturing them for years, then yeah we should be concerned when TV shows show things like Hezbollah and Al Qaeda working together during a time when there is talk about whether the US should invade Iran or not.

There are plenty of people who believe shit like this is accurate.
 
C

ClosingADoor

Member
TV does not show the world as it really is. Is anybody surprised by this...

If your world view is coming from drama shows like this, then that is more your own fault then the shows.
 
T

TheRagnCajun

Member
Embarassing that no one caught this. They care enough about authenticity to include Arabic grafitti, but not enough to actually read what it says.
 
B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
TheRagnCajun said:
Embarassing that no one caught this. They care enough about authenticity to include Arabic grafitti, but not enough to actually read what it says.
Click to expand...

They should be glad those graffitis didn't say anything vulgar or obscene.
Althought I'm not sure which one would be worst for the producers.
 
Y

Yeoman

Member
ClosingADoor said:
TV does not show the world as it really is. Is anybody surprised by this...

If your world view is coming from drama shows like this, then that is more your own fault then the shows.
Click to expand...
This post doesn't make much sense at all.
Whether you like it or not television does shape people's opinions.
Are you seriously contending that your world view and understanding hasn't been formed by the media to some degree? At the very least I can guarantee it has on a subconscious level. The fact that this TV show doesn't present it self as a documentary doesn't mean it won't impact people's way of thinking. This is especially true when it comes to a region like the Near East, which is subjected to these sorts of portrayals on a consistent basis. Consider you're on a video game forum, and how the area/people are usually portrayed in those too...

For those that are interested in the depiction of Near Eastern people and the Near East, I recommend you check out the documentary: Reel Bad Arabs. It's a pretty extensive examination of how the Near East is rendered to audiences in the USA and Western Europe.
https://youtu.be/aKD3CnPJNOE?t=1m50s
[Unfortunately I couldn't find a better quality video on YouTube]

Also check out Edward Said's book Orientalism which discusses certain perceptions of the Near East on an even deeper and more extensive level.
 
M

Murkas

Member
Frostburn said:
It is a drama TV show, it isn't trying to make a statement or be 100% accurate, it is entertainment and if the artists were really offended by the show they shouldn't have worked on it (not even doing what they were paid to do). Too many overly sensitive people make a big deal out of nothing. Focus on some real issues or shut up. Guess they got what they really wanted though, their 15 minutes in the spotlight.

News flash: Shows always mis-represent actual locations, they do this because of budgets mostly but also to tell a story, they aren't trying to be accurate.
Click to expand...

Exactly, what the fuck is the big deal? It's just a TV show, just another TV show, another TV show in a long line of TV shows, films, and media that once again portray brown Muslims as bearded burka wearing camel fuckers living in the desert in a time where anti-Muslim shit is not uncommon to see. Any Muslim bothered by this should just honestly shut the fuck up and focus on real issues. So come on, what real issue should we tell them to focus on because they're focusing on the wrong ones?
 
J

- J - D -

Member
mellz said:
CRWsVVUUkAA2bti.jpg:large
Click to expand...

I always thought the difference was attributed to the idea that Homeland's depiction of the world was a heightened quasi near-future where the situation in the middle east, namely Lebanon and other connected regions, was much more caustic and dire.

It's no excuse i suppose though.
 
I

IdreamofHIME

Member
PillarEN said:
Isn't Claire Danes in this show? That's weird. She's kinda big on the whole sensitivity stuff.
Click to expand...


Wait..what?
The same Claire Danes that got banned from the Philippines for saying the country smells like sewage, is infested with roaches and most of the people she saw didn't have teeth or were missing limbs.
 
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